FanHouse Chats With 2-Time Stanley Cup Champion Phil Bourque

HOMESTEAD, Pa. -- Phil Bourque spent eight of his 12 NHL seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, helping the team win two Stanley Cups in the early 1990s. Since the 2003-04 campaign, he's worked as an analyst for the Penguins radio network, and we had an opportunity to catch up with him at the team's Championship DVD release on Monday night.

Among the topics discussed: How do the current Penguins compare to the teams he played on, which current Penguin is the modern-day Phil Bourque, and why are hockey players the most approachable, fan-friendly athletes in sports?

On paper, there are few teams that can realistically be compared to the 1991 and 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins in terms of overall talent and star-power. Currently, there are six members of those teams in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen, Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy and Bryan Trottier), while another, Jaromir Jagr, is an absolute lock once he officially retires from the NHL. Still, we asked Bourque how the current Penguins stack up against the team he won two Stanley Cups with.

"There's a lot of comparisons," said Bourque. "You have elite players, high end players. You have a solid goaltender. And just as important to those elements are the role players. You gotta have them. You look at any team that's won the Stanley Cup; You need guys like Jordan Staal and Max Talbot. You know, the muckers and grinders. Guys like Craig Adams. You don't have guys like that and you're not going to win. There's a lot of character on this team as well as skill."

So, which team would claim bragging rights in a hypothetical Steel City, winner-take-all championship game?

"That's not fair," Bourque laughed. "I'm going to go with our team because of one player: Sixty-six. You put Mario (Lemieux) in the equation, and I've learned a long time ago you never bet against Mario Lemieux because he'll always make you pay."

Playing on a team loaded with star players, it was easy for Bourque to go relatively unnoticed on the ice, at least compared to the likes of Lemieux, Coffey, Francis and a dynamic teenager, Jagr, who was already starting to display some of the skills that would one day make him the best player in the world. In his eight years with the Penguins, Bourque tallied 20 goals just twice, including a career-high 22 in 1989. During the two Stanley Cup runs, he scored nine postseason goals, including a crucial goal in Game 1 of the 1992 Final against the Chicago Blackhawks.

When looking over the current roster for a comparable player to himself, he quickly mentioned Max Talbot, the hero of Pittsburgh's Game 7 win in Detroit.

"I've been compared to Max Talbot," he said. "I never scored two goals in a Game 7 before, but I would be very honored to be compared to a Max Talbot. He's a lunch pail type of guy. He puts his work boots on and he's a heart and soul guy. A lot of people say maybe he's not the most skilled player, but he's the kind of guy that kind of epitomizes the city of Pittsburgh with his work ethic."

Bourque also talked about what the Penguins are up against this season when it comes to replacing players such as Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi.

"It's going to be tough, said Bourque. "It's going to be real tough. You know, those guys were unheralded. They also got a lot of the knocks because they weren't that fancy. I was one guy that always stood up for Hal Gill and said, you don't understand. He's 6-foot-7, he's not the smoothest guy, but it's going to be tough. There are guys out there, though, that would love to come to Pittsburgh and lay it on the line the way Scuderi and Gill did. Really sacrifice their bodies for the team and understand that's their role, and if they do it, they can help us win because they know we have the skill guys."

When we first approached Bourque, he was just finishing up a conversation with a small group of fans. Over the years, the Penguins have developed a strong relationship with their fan base and, in the process, formed a unique, and rather strong bond. This is, after all, a team that took the Stanley Cup clubbing the night after winning it, while they also hand deliver season tickets.

During the team's lean years in the mid 2000s, when many tickets were sold for $20 to college and high school students in the Student Rush Program, it wasn't uncommon to see players bring free pizza to the kids waiting in line for tickets. Recently, the Penguins finished as the No. 3 team in ESPN's ultimate standings in terms of fan relations. It's worth noting that of the top 15 teams in the fan relations category, nine of them are hockey teams, including the Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators.

We asked Bourque what it is about hockey players, as a whole, that make them so approachable.

"It's two things about hockey players," he said. "Number one, you look at where they come from. A lot of players, the majority, a very high percentage, come from small towns. Number two, it's just the way it is."

"Go back to, I don't know, I would assume it's the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, humility is just something that's a fiber of the game of hockey. That's just the way it is. If you come in the dressing room riding your high horse, you're going to be knocked off that horse in a matter of an hour by about six different guys, and that's just the way it is. If you're not humble, but also confident, then you're not going to survive in the NHL game."